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December 13, 2017

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Darnell v. Dobrott

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute. Information contained in this entry is current as of the last event mentioned in the "Description" section below; additional proceedings might have taken place in this matter since this event.

Threat Type:

Date:

06/10/2008

Status:

Concluded

Location:

Texas

Disposition:

Dismissed (total)

Injunction Denied

Verdict or Settlement Amount:

$0.00

Legal Claims:

Defamation

False Light

Negligence

Tortious Interference

Trade Libel

In June 2008, Tim Darnell of Advantage Conferences sued Heather Dobrott in Texas state court for comments she posted about his business under the pseudonym "soapboxmom" on forum site scam.com and other websites. Darnell's petition and request for temporary restraining... read full description

Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat:

Heather Dobrott

Type of Party:

Individual

Type of Party:

Individual

Location of Party:

Texas

Location of Party:

Texas

Legal Counsel:

Jason Charles Ciarochi

Legal Counsel:

Matthew J. Kita; James H. Moody III; Thomas Foster

Description

In June 2008, Tim Darnell of Advantage Conferences sued Heather Dobrott in Texas state court for comments she posted about his business under the pseudonym "soapboxmom" on forum site scam.com and other websites. Darnell's petition and request for temporary restraining order sought injunctive relief and damages against Dobrott on theories of defamation, trade libel, tortious interference, negligence, and invasion of privacy.

The court initially granted Darnell a temporary restraining order, but in a June 23, 2008 hearing it dissolved the restraining order and denied Darnell's request for a temporary injunction, stating that "prior restraints on speech are presumptively unconstitutional and I have not heard anything that would indicate . . . why the relief requested would take it out of that presumption."

Later, the court granted Dobrott's motion for summary judgment, which appears to have been unopposed.

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